The present invention relates to languages and devices for visual representation of the passage of time, and specifically to a clock that is especially suited to children.
Devices for the visual portrayal of the passage of time range from concrete instantiations of slow-moving physical phenomena such as sundials and hourglasses, to more arbitrary paradigms developed along with specific motion or display technologies, i.e. dial clocks and digital clocks. These arbitrary representations have long survived the original mechanism that generated them and moved into the realm of language, retaining their meaning in relation to the time of day regardless of how the visual image is generated. Thus we may prefer a “digital” or “dial” clock interface on the screen of our computer or on our wrist, as a matter of taste and legibility. The mechanism that generates the changes in the visual portrayal can be based on atomic decay, piezoelectric pulses, mechanical action or any other phenomenon without affecting the resulting language of representation. The two dominant languages of dial and digital clocks, though arbitrary, are well enough accepted to perform the role of semiotic sign or marker throughout most of the world.
There have been many suggestions for variations on and alternatives to the two dominant languages, to improve legibility, aesthetics, or other factors. The prior art includes novel ways of representing hours, minutes, and other accepted divisions of time. Conceivably, displays could be based on other divisions of time or represent the flow of time without representing divisions per se.
The standard systems of representing time are dependent on familiarity with visual representations of numbers and comprehension of the clock hands as indicators within an otherwise static interface. Such interfaces are a priori unsuitable for children. Understanding the standard time representations requires a stage in child development more advanced than the stage at which a child can grasp the concept of the passage of time. Due to this misalignment, there is typically a protracted stage during which a child can grasp some of the concepts of time, but is prevented from doing this due to the difficulties of parsing written numerals and understanding the meaning of the position of the hands.
In the prior art are known devices and methods that attempt to make time telling easier for children. A review of earlier art will serve to illustrate their respective and collective lacunae.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,493,138 to Hathaway describes a time teaching device in the form of a standard clock with an attached verse-inscribed panel. The numeral indicia are augmented with pictures of animals and familiar objects and the hands of the clock are fashioned in the form of the storybook characters Jack and Jill. Hathaway teaches a working version with clockwork driven hands as well as a demonstration version in which the hands are only turned manually. The verses inscribed on the device refer to the pictures and the characters on the hands of the clock, relating them in storybook fashion to the hours of a child's day. Hathaway does not teach a new method of representing time, but merely attaches additional recognizable shapes to the sectors of the clock and to its hands. The cognitive steps necessary to differentiate between the two hands of the clock and to associate the location of the hand with a particular sector of the clock face are retained.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,327 to Cordova, Jr. describes a display and method for depicting the passage of time by selectively and progressively “filling” predetermined areas representing hours, minutes, seconds, and tenths of seconds. A user tells time by noting how much of a given area is filled. The display is configured in a variety of shapes with the possibility of assigning different parts of the shapes to the various time divisions. While Cordova teaches a new method of representing the passage of time, no improvement in legibility or comprehensibility is achieved.
A further disadvantage of Cordova is the inherent inaccuracy of depiction. The user is expected to calculate the relation of part to whole in determining hours on a 12 or 24 hour scale. This is cognitively difficult and can easily result in reading inaccuracies of one or two hours. A further disadvantage is in the depiction of small time divisions such as proposed for seconds or tenths of seconds. A device according to Cordova represents the passage of time over short intervals by rapidly flashing lights, detracting from the legibility and clarity of the entire display.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,961 to Bruskewitz describes a portable child activity timer designed to be comprehensible by children. A device according to Bruskewitz indicates pictorially what activity is being timed or what the child is waiting for, in addition to showing numerically how much time is left and indicating by means of a sound when a timed period is over. A device according to Bruskewitz is useful only for timing specific intervals and does not propose a new method of representing the time divisions of a day. The pictures on the timer relate to specific situations or events and are not associated with the time of day in a general sense.
Other devices configured to teach children time telling skills are found in Swiss Patent 540 542 to Ingold, U.S. Pat. No. 3,608,214 to Rancati, U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,389 to Brooks, U.S. Pat. No. 4,124,945 to Totten, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,943 to Grimes, all of which describe variations on the concept of time telling teaching devices or teaching clocks. These devices are not actual clocks, but rather teaching aids consisting of various discs, rings, and hands with printing, pictures and colors on them which are rotated manually around a central pivot in order to display a simulacrum of a clock face. Although colors are used to represent the various hours in a day, the devices teach no new time-telling language.
Thus, there is a need for, and it would be greatly advantageous to have a clock designed for children that familiarized them with the concepts of the passage of time, telling time, and associating given visual images with times of the day, using familiar images and colors to represent time. In addition, there is a need for, and it would be greatly advantageous to have a method of representing and telling time that is comprehensible and accessible to any person that is developmentally able to recognize images and colors.